Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
important ingredient in determining whether someone is healthy or
not.
Conclusion
The research reported here extends our knowledge of what health
means to a sample of almost completed undergraduate BSc (Hons)
nursing students. Perhaps their views as expressed here as to what
health means are, as much as anything else, really a function of
their nursing training. What we mean is that one of the core
functions of nursing is to move people through the hospital system
(Latimer 2000). Therefore the views expressed here by our student
respondents reflects the wider public concern with the health
service as one which exists to make people ‘well’. The important
influence of the bio-medical model is evident although there is a
clear understanding that medicine and medication are not a
panacea for health. Limitations of this research include the fact that
the questionnaire did not include more items relating to the spiritual
impact on health. For instance there are reports in the literature of
the power of prayer (Maltby & Lewis 1997) and this aspect may
deserve more attention. Similarly with the focus group itself, given
the nature of the dynamics between lecturers and students it may
have taken some time for the group to ‘settle’ into the setting. Of
more salience perhaps is that we may have simply tried to cover too
broad an area and future research on similar type of samples might
consider having groups explore each aspect as a separate and focal
issue.
References
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Bernard, D., Quine, S., Kang, M., Alperstein, G., Usherwood, T.,
Bennett, D., & Booth, M (2004). "Access to primary health care for
Australian adolescents: How congruent are the perspectivs of health
service providers and young people, and does it matter?" Austrailian
& New Zealand Journal of Public Health 28(5): 487-492.
Blaxter, M. (1983). "The causes of disease: Women talking." Social
Science & Medicine 17: 59-69.
Blaxter, M. (1990). Health and Lifestyles. London, Tavistock.
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